The Gu huapin lu 古畫品錄 "Classification of ancient painters", also called Gujin huapin 古今畫品 "Classified painting of old and new", is a critique of paintings and the individual style of painters written by the Southern Qi period 南齊 (479-502) scholar Xie He 謝赫 (459?-532?). In the imperial bibliography in the history Songshi 宋史 the book is called Gujin huapin, in Bian Yongyu's 卞永譽 Shigutang shuhua huikao 式古堂書畫匯考 from the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) it is listed with the title of Guhuaping 古畫評 "Critiques on ancient paintings.
Xie He came from Xiayang 夏陽 (moden Linfen 臨汾, Shanxi), but not much is known about his life. A biography of He Xie ist o the found in Zhang Yanyuan's 張彦遠 Lidai minghua ji 歷代名畫記. The Chen period 陳 (557-589) writer Yao Zui 姚最, who wrote a sequel to the Gu huapin lu, the Xu huapin lu 續畫品錄, admired Xie He for his ability to paint exact portraits after a single glimpse at a person, yet he lacked the skill to express individual personality in his portraits. The paintings Anqi xiansheng tu 安期先生圖 and Jin Mingdi bunian tu 晉明帝步輦圖 have survived.
The short book discusses paintings of high quality (huapin 畫品) from the Three Kingdoms period 三國 (220-280) to the Liang period 梁 (502-557). It is arranged according to the names of 27 painters. Xie He made use of a system of six qualification categories (pin 品), similar to the official categorization of eminent families during that time (zhongzhengpin 中正品). Five painters belong to the highest category, namely Lu Tanwei 陸探微, Cao Buxing 曹不興, Wei Xie 衛協, Zhang Mo 張墨 and Xun Xu 荀勖. The famous painter Gu Kaizhi 顧愷之, one of the few artists whose paintings have survived until today (as copies), is only ranked among the third category.
He Xie clearly describes his method of categorizing painters. Those of the highest category professed in all six rules (liu fa 六法), namely resonating the painter's energy in his movement (qiyun shengdong 氣韻生動), using the brush with the 'bone' method [linking the personality of the painter with his style] (gufa yongbi 骨法用筆), reflecting the shape of the object (yingwu xiangxing 應物象形), suit the type and extract its colours (suilei fucai 隨類賦彩), composition and placement (jingying weizhi 經營位置), and transmission by copying (chuanyi moxie 傳移模寫). Most painters were only able to fulfill one or two of these rules, and even the best of were not able to perfect themselves in all these skills. These six rules or skills were applied for the rating of paintings from all ages. He Xie used this method so consistently that it became the common method of all later critics on painting, as can be seen in Guo Ruoxu's 郭若虛 Tuhua jianwen zhi 圖畫見聞志 from the Song period 宋 (960-1279). Yet He was also criticized by Yao Zui that his judgments lacked a certain spirit of reality and did not reflect the historical background. Yao is also surprised that a painter like Lu Tanwei was rated as nearly perfect, while Gu Kaizhi is only assessed being an average painter.
The oldest surviving print of the Gu huapin lu dates from the Ming period 明 (1368-1644). It is included in the collectaneaJindai mishu 津逮秘書, Xuejin taoyuan 學津討源, Wang Shizhen's 王世貞 Huayuan 畫苑 (also called Wangshi shuhua yuan 王氏書畫苑), the Shuofu 說郛, Yanbei ouchao 硯北偶鈔, Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Meishu congshu 美術叢書 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書.